We Love the Cov!

“We Love the Cov!”

Every year at UCC we collect money in cans with a Campbel Soup look-a-like label on it:



This money goes to Covenant World Relief which distributes this money all around the world to various ministries within our denomination – the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Do you ever wonder how that money is spent?

Yesterday we were able to visit three churches that directly benefited from Covenant World Relief. These three churches and their pastors were very inspiring for me.

Two of the three Covenant Churches partners with the Colombian government to run a preschool at the church 8-4 5 days a week. Up to 100 children are nurtured, cared for, taught and fed.This is all free to the church! The church has to follow strict guidelines, but the Colombian government pays for the teachers, materials and the food. The church opens its doors to the neighborhood with about 60% of the families served not a part of the church family.

The third church we visited is pastored by a courageous Colombian named Pastor Munoz or “Pebe,” as he is affectionately called by people in the neighborhood. Pastor Munoz ministers in a very dangerous section of Medellin. He pastors people on what I call “the hill,” a very steep, densely packed section of homes on the side of a hill.

A few years ago a woman from the congregation by the name of Martha had a vision to plant a prayer and youth center further up the hill away from the church. She and her husband donated the land(they are not wealthy, but very generous) and the center was built. Two doors away is a building that is used as a gang headquarters.

After visiting these three churches I had a few thoughts:

1. “I love the Cov.” – I love that our denomination places such emphasis on church planting, evangelism and actively participates in ministries of compassion and justice.

2. I was inspired by the generosity of ……... Desiring to build their own home they felt compelled to give land away first so that the church could have a strategic outreach center in the middle of gang territory.

3. Money is a powerful force for the spread of the good news of Jesus. When we give our money to Covenant World Relief, when we support the efforts of churches and congregations like the ones I encountered yesterday, it is used in meaningful ways to educate children, care for the poor, tell people about Jesus and build up the influence of the church.

4. The church – I love the global church. It is wonderful to see the body of Christ – whether in Turkey, Israel, Los Angeles or Medellin – being the hands, feet, eyes and heart of Jesus. “And I will build my church and the gates of death will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18) While the gates of death put up a good defense, the power of the risen Jesus, working through ordinary people like you and me, cannot withstand the forward movement of the salt and light of the world. The church, for all our problems, dysfunctions, hypocrisies, weaknesses, phobias and sin, is still and will always be the hope of the world.


May the grace of Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Spirit remain upon you and in you this day.

Jamie Gang headquarters two doors down from the prayer center(orange building)


Part of "the hill"

Colombia!

Greetings from Medellin, Colombia. I am here with my two sons helping and observing a school connected with the Covenant Denomination. The school accommodates up to 100 students from 1st through 5th grade. Currently, 85 students are enrolled.

There are 5 class sessions each day from 7am to 12pm. We mostly hug, watch, listen, learn and participate as we are able.

Here are a few pictures from our first week:

George(director of the school and teacher) and me





Benjamin and friends

Me and my fifth grade friends


Teacher Diane








Andrew and kids





Kids helping each other

Teacher Adriana

Pillow Fight

Benjamin and I had a great day yesterday, going to Homeboy Industries and visiting a church called the Dream Center. After we got home we both had a bit of energy left so we engaged in a little pillow fight.

I think I won........or lost........

Brian

Benjamin and I are in LA learning about urban ministry. This trip was encouraged when Benjamin read G-Dog and the Home Boys by Father Greg Boyle.

It is his story of working with kids in gangs in LA. Benjamin was so inspired by the book he insisted I read it. I did. It was inspiring and convicting at the same time.

I told him we could visit Father Boyle's ministry someday. It is called Homeboy Industries.

We visited this ministry on Thursday. We met a guy named Brian who took us on a tour of their facility - they have a restaurant, a bakery, a tattoo removal service and a few others ministries in their three year old facility. It was very impressive and inspiring. Most of the employees are former gang members. There was hope in the air as we walked from room to room.

Brian agreed to have lunch with us. Brian's story is somewhat typical of what you might find at Homeboy. Brian became a gang member at the age of 14. He never graduated from high school. He was arrested and spent several years in jail. He was released from jail a year ago at the age of 21. He was pretty desperate and hopeless. He has a little girl to support. With no job, no degree, a long record of arrests and tattoo's on his arms, neck and face, he has little hope of employment.

In jail someone told him about Homeboy Industries. With no where else to go, Brian went to Homeboy and met with Father Boyle. Much to his surprise Father Boyle or G-Dog, as he is affectionately called, hired him!

Brian says God is at work in his life. When he started his first college class and started the long and painful process of tatoo removal his Dad threw him a party! Brian is now working 40 hours a week, is taking anger management classes, he works out every morning at 5:30 am, is an aspiring hip hop artist and is filled with a warm and humble spirit.

What an inspiring lunch for Benjamin and me!

"May God continue to bless Homeboy Industries, G-Dog, the staff at Homeboy and every person that finds hope in this place of restoration and renewal."

Biking and Camping

Hi all!!!

I made it home safe and sound from Israel!! Thank-you all so much for your prayers and I look forward to sharing with you in the fall.

This past week our family went with our dear friends on our summer adventure. In the past we have been hiking in Yosemite, exploring the San Juan Islands, mountain biking in Colorado, enjoying Lake Tahoe, surfing around San Diego and experiencing Mazatlan, Mexico.

This year, our 18th straight year, we went cycling along the coast and camping. It was a wonderful time of exercise, sleep, fun, food and experiencing the beauty and majesty of the California coast.

Tomorrow, Benjamin and I go to Long Beach for 5 days connecting with Fountain of Life Covenant Church (http://www.folcov.org/) and hopefully Homeboy Industires (http://www.homeboy-industries.org/contactus.php).

Here are some pictures from this past week:

Leaving

Leaving.

I hate leaving.

When I was a child leaving family - grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends - after a visit or vacation, quite often brought tears to my eyes and a heavy heart. I hate leaving.

As I leave Jerusalem after three weeks of study and travel, I have that same feeling.

In many ways this three week experience in Israel has been very moving. Being at Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am," to taste and feel the dirt and dust of the wilderness where God's people wandered and died for 40 years, to be in the garden of Gethsemane, to swim in the Sea of Galilee, to be on the spot where Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, to stand on the floor where the apostle Paul made his defense in front of the governor Felix at Caesarea before he was sent off to Rome, was really, really convincing!

I know this is an odd thing to say but, this story is true! ("Ah, didn't you believe that before?" "Yes, but....") Somehow seeing and feeling the geography, walking "in his steps," walking through Jerusalem almost every night we weren't on the road traveling, brings home the reality that this story, this Gospel, this good news, is really true.

When the apostle Paul was being questioned about his faith in Jesus, the Roman procurator Festus interrupted, "Your are out of your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane." To which Paul replied, "I am not insane, most excellent Festus. What I am saying is true and reasonable."

Very moving.

But there is another aspect of Israel that was....very earthy. I found myself in some of the spots previously mentioned and others which didn't stir me as deeply as I had hoped. I had expected and anticipated more. I even began to feel a bit guilty - "This is where Jesus healed a boy with an evil spirit." "This is where Peter lived." "This is where Jesus was flogged." Why am I not feeling this more than I do?

And yet I think that lack of deep moving emotion was part of the point - Jesus came to us in the ordinary ebb and flow of life. He grew up in a small village, he walked, he worked, he interacted with all kinds of people. The area is actually alot like where we live! Similar weather, vegetation and geography.

Jesus came to us in the spectacular, but also in the unspectacular, in routine of life. I am thankful for the many moments of stirring emotion which evoked prayer, praise and song, but I am also thankful for the "ordinariness" of this place.

As the disciple John put it "He came to that which was his own...."(John 1:11a) Jesus came to us on our turf. He came to us on our terms, with our language, on our geography, eating our food and living the life we live. Profound.

The rest of the verse also spoke to me almost everyday - "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him."(John 1:11b)

Shalom!













Praise God from whom all blessings flow!